Revealed to the general public during the Covid-19 pandemic, mRNA vaccines have caused a lot of discussion. Accused of all evils by their detractors, these injections have in turn been suspected of causing “turbo-cancers” or myocarditis.
An unprecedented French study that sweeps away fears at four years old
So far, scientific data showed a reduction in short-term mortality among people vaccinated against Covid-19. This new analysis, published in the journal JAMA Network Opengoes much further. It evaluates the impact of vaccination on all-cause mortality (including cardiovascular and cancer) over a period of four years.
This cohort, taken from data from the National Health Data System (SNDS), compared 22.7 million people vaccinated with at least one dose of mRNA vaccine to 5.9 million unvaccinated people, in the 18-59 age group.
The majority received a vaccine from mid-2021, the date of the launch of a massive vaccination campaign against Covid.
The rest – almost 6 million – were not vaccinated, despite restrictive measures encouraging vaccination at the time, such as the introduction of a health pass. Most of these vaccines were mRNA vaccines, either from Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech.
The double benefit of the vaccine, including against cancer
At the end of this work, the researchers noted that the vaccine was completely safe in the long term.
“Individuals who received at least one dose of mRNA vaccine had a 25% reduced risk of death from all causes, compared to unvaccinated people. write the researchers.
In total, over four years of follow-up, 0.4% deaths were observed among vaccinated people, compared to 0.6% among unvaccinated people, reinforcing the safety of this technology.
“We were well aware of the short-term profile of Covid vaccines in terms of benefits and risks. However, their long-term benefit has never been studied. It can be said with a high degree of confidence that there is no increased risk of mortality after a Covid vaccine.” estimates researcher Mahmoud Zureik, who supervised this study, from AFP.
Vaccines that have other positive effects
In addition to these initial conclusions, Epi-Phare’s work demonstrates other positive effects of this vaccine.
- A reduction in mortality linked to Covid-19 of 74% among vaccinated people, which “once again confirms the effectiveness of vaccination against severe forms”;
- But also broader protection, with a 25% reduction in the risk of death observed for the main causes of death studied, including cardiovascular diseases and cancers. “It even reaches 35% among 18-29 year olds”;
- In the shorter term, in the six months following vaccination, mortality also reduced by 29%.
However, although the study does not claim that the vaccine directly causes this drop, it formally rules out any increase in long-term mortality risk associated with mRNA vaccination against Covid-19.
mRNA: a technology of the future whose safety is confirmed
The role of mRNA vaccines was major in the management of the pandemic, but their technology, new to the general public, raised questions about the long term.
Unlike standard vaccination, which injects a weakened or inactivated form of an infectious agent, the mRNA vaccine uses RNA molecules to provide our cells with the information needed to produce the virus proteins themselves. These proteins then cause an immune response. These vaccines are also increasingly used to fight certain cancers, as part of immunotherapy.
It remains to be seen whether these scientific results will be enough to convince the most reluctant. Younger people can rest assured, however: mRNA vaccination against Covid-19 may no longer concern them.
“I am not sure that it would be relevant today to recommend that all young adults get vaccinated again, because the immunity acquired through vaccinations and past contaminations protects them.” concludes Dr. Zureik in The Parisian. The vaccine, however, remains recommended for those over 65 and populations at risk.